Vertigo
by escapiism
Summary: Emily believes in love that is instantaneous. It's like the perfect cliché — except this time it's meds exchanged instead of lipstick stains, and screams instead of silent goodbyes. This is how they set fire to the world (in a hospital).
**a/n:** AU, in which they're all at a psychiatric hospital. Mostly a Naomily story, but with elements of Freddie/Effy, and Katie/Cook. I guess some Pandora/Thomas as well :) Other characters from Gen One will also make appearances. I don't know if this story has been done before, but… please enjoy!

 **summary:** Emily believes in love that is instantaneous. It's so sudden, and almost— _almost_ —gone too soon, but all the same, you know when, and how. It's like the perfect cliché—except this time it's meds exchanged instead of lipstick stains, and screams instead of silent goodbyes. —naomi/emily, and how they set fire to the world (in a hospital).

* * *

 **out, damned spot.**

* * *

 _How_ was she supposed to know?

How is she supposed to know when things go a little too wrong, or when they're just _not_ meant to happen? How is she supposed to know _what_ to believe, when everything in the world is just… meaningless?

How was she supposed to know that, when there's nothing to know in the first place?

* * *

Katie's crying. That's the first thing Emily notices when she craned her head up just a little bit, even if it hurts like hell. The second thing she notices is blood—both on Katie's clothes, _and_ hers. In actual fact, Emily's pretty sure her skin's stained more than anything, all _red red red_ to an extent it isn't. Katie's still crying, and Emily's pretty sure she'll burst if she isn't careful—the police are staring. The car is blaring. And the ambulance sirens are getting louder.

Emily doesn't remember.

Or maybe she doesn't want to. Or maybe both. Or maybe she's just not Emily anymore—she wishes. She'll give the world to be anyone other than _Emily_ —even Katie, she guesses. Any other sixteen-year-old in the whole fucking world—after all, they're not going to mess up, and they're not going to spiral down a forbidden vortex that only has that one sentence ( _DON'T YOU DARE_ ) echoing through supposed walls, and they're certainly not going to exactly _dare_. They're not going to be stupid—not like Emily.

Emily pulls the silver blanket she has over her shoulder over her head, in any hope it'll act like one of those invisibility cloaks, or something. It doesn't really help, though, for it isn't warm anymore, and she shivers as it prickles against her skin, her _face_ , all bloodstained, bloodshot, and blotchy. She shivers again, and realises some things really are impossible.

Emily tries to remember.

It started off with that sleazy man-whore of a boyfriend, Danny-something, and his stupid drinking buddies. Had to pull Katie into his mess, didn't he? And bastardy as he was— _is_ —Emily knew better not to let her go off, and followed, because Katie's her _sister_ , for heaven's sake.

It was some underground party on the outskirts of Bristol. At least, Emily's pretty sure of that—maybe she's hallucinating, because was that even in fashion nowadays? Anyway, it was underground, in the sewers, probably, and this was the part where Emily should have told Katie that _no_ , this _wasn't_ going to be fun, and _yes_ , they should _leave_ , because what kind of insane creature would want to stay? Then Emily should probably have commented on how it was like the rabbit hole, and how they probably didn't want to end up where Alice went, to which Katie would probably scowl, call her a "fucking killjoy, yeah", but all the same leave with her, because Emily knows Katie better than anyone else in the fucking universe, and Emily knows how Katie loves this dark, intertwining plots that make no sense at all, and Emily knows that Katie's a sucker for superstitions. Then they'd leave, and they _wouldn't_ have been in the stupid, _stupid_ mess. Katie would start crying halfway down their road, call her a "bitch", and tell her how she much she hated her, but then the next day, in the news, there'd be something about an accident in _that very underground party_ , and it would probably have been Danny-something in this knife fight, and then Katie would cry again, but tell Emily that she was sorry, and for a little bit it would be okay again.

She's kind of getting ahead of herself. Ironic, really.

So back to the non-illusion—Danny-something took them to the party, and they were given these weird stampy things to go on their wrists. Danny-something hauled Katie away, probably for some "private time", and left Emily all alone. Again. (Once again, Emily should have told them to _stop_ , and _then_ pulled Katie out. But she didn't. Evidently.)

Someone slipped her drugs. Now, Emily remembers this, because that explains the whole unforeseen giddiness, _and_ the whole interrogation thing the police put her through literally five seconds earlier, where Emily just fixated her gaze on the concrete, while the police bustled around her, and pulled out a packet of them from her denim jacket. They'd tutted, and that's how she knows.

Not from memory, though.

But someone _did_ slip her drugs. And Emily had taken them.

"Emzi!"

Emily barely looks up at the voice, and only lets her fingers shake their way out of this mess. _Remember_ , Emily, _just fucking remember_.

So she took the drugs. And then she remembers feeling so fucking fantastic she thought she could take over the world—it gave her that feeling, and it was _magnificent_. She'd made out with some girls then, she thinks—no, she's pretty sure, because her face is covered with old lipstick stains.

Then…

There were people, a lot of them—gathering around her. No, not her, but this guy—and Emily tried to stop these… people. But there were too many of them, and they… and they had _claws_. So Emily couldn't do anything, yet she tried to stop them, but they were too quick; too deadly, and Emily was too weak. At some point Katie joined in, but they were… they were…

Emily gasps, and jumps up.

The ambulance sirens are now deafening.

It's all red— _so_ red—but then suddenly, it's all black, and Emily doesn't understand that, but she can't, won't, and doesn't even want to.

* * *

 **a/n:** This is kind of a prologue, I guess, so you might have no idea what's going on. Okay, so Emily and Katie went to this party (the one in S3?), and then Emily got involved in a fight (of some sorts), which didn't end particularly well. More will be uncovered :P

 _HAPPY BIRTHDAY LILY! :)_


End file.
